the mass in the east. iv: coptic

Irish Jesuit Province

The Mass in the East. IV: CopticAuthor(s): Donald AttwaterSource: The Irish Monthly, Vol. 61, No. 718 (Apr., 1933), pp. 229-234Published by: Irish Jesuit ProvinceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20513508 .

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229

THE MASS IN THE EAST.

IV.-COPIC.

By DONALD ArwATER.

TIHE Coptic rite, representing the ancient usages of Alexandria, is used by the Copts, that is to say, the native Christians of Egypt. Of these the

majority adhere, at any rate materially, to the Monophy site heresy, but there are some 35,000 Catholics, with a patriarch and two bishops, and this number is steadily growing.

As a body the Catholics are very poor in this world's goods, and their churches a-re mostly mud-walled halls, lacking beauty and distinctionl, and more or less aping

Latin churches in their appointments. But some pre serve their proper ritual arrangement of three altars in a row at the east end, screened off by carved and inlaid wooden partitions, the nave being similarly screened off for men and women, and furnished with pictures (no statues), lampis-and ostrich eggs! The liturgical language is Coptic,, but it is interspersed with many

Greek salutations, e.tc., and some Arabic (the vulgar tongue), which is coming increasingly into use. Their vestments are the usual ample eastern ones, and, even when there is a screen, the altar is never entirely hidden. One outstanding characteristic of the Liturgy is the close assistance of the people; more often than not there is no choir, and the people sing all the many responses in their ancient and traditional chant. Ritual charac teristics are the number of occasions on which the celebrant walks round the altar, praying, incensing, etc., and the lavish use of incense. Leavened bread is used for the altar, on which should be only two candles.

After the Divine Office, which usually precedes the Liturgy, the priest enters the sanctuary and prepares the bread and wine at the altar. This takes some time.

After the priest has directed his intention for which he is offering the sacrifice, he makes procession round the



230 T E IRISH MONTHLY

altar carrying the bread, followed by the deacon with the wine and an acolyte with a light, wvhile the people sing a variable hymn, e.g., on fasting days:

"Alleluia! The mind of man shall praise thee and the rest of his thoughts shall keep holiday before thee.

Alleluia! The sacrifices and offerings are before thee.

Alleluia !" The bread, wine and water are blessed, the offertory prayers said, the gifts covered with three veils, the altar again circumambrulated, and the priest and his assistants kneel outside the sanctuary while he says inaudibly two prayers for the forgiveness of sinis, in the second of which, among others, the Fathers of the general councils of Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon are referred to.

The Lituirgy of the Catechumens begins with a three fold tour of the altar, the, priest singing a litany for the

Church with the deacon while the people sing. The prayer for the congregation runs:

" Grant that they [the- offerings] may be withouit hindrance and disturbance to us, that we may have them according to Thy holy and blessed will as houses of prayer, houses of holiness, houses of blessing ... . May Thy people be blessed a thousand thousand fold, and ten thousand ten thousand fold; and may they do Tlhy

will. "' Then the altar, offerings, images and people are

incensed, while a reader, sub-deacon and deacon, or other minister reads three lessons, one each from St. Paul, the Catlholic Epistles, and the Acts of the Apostles, outside the sanctuary, first in Coptic and then in Arabic.

Meanwhile the priest finishes the incensing and says quietly two long prayers, for an understanding mind and increase of virtue; then the tour of' the altar and

incensing are repeated, the priest saying certain short prayers. The Trisagion," CHoly God, holy Strong One, holy Deathless One, have mercy on us," is sung three

times in Greek the gospel-book is carried in procession



THE MASS IN THE EAST 231

round the altar, the priest saying the " prayer of the gospel "' and a psalm for the day; then the deacon, but

more often the priest, mounts the ambo (when there is one) and chants the gospel, the thurible being swung all the time; it is repeated in Arabic.

The priest returns to the altar for the Liturgy of the Faithful which, after the V. " Peace be unto all," R. " And unto the spirit," begins with a. litany for the

Church-" which is from one end of the world to the other '"-and for the Pope and the patriarch of Alex andria,-" preserve them in safety to us for many and

peaceful years .... rightly distributing the word of truth, ruling Thy people in holiness and verity. Then incense is offered to God, Who is asked to receive His servants' prayers with it; the following words were formerly used but have now been transferred to the office which precedes the Liturgy:

" even as Thoul didst accept the offerings of the righteous Abel and the sacrifice of our father Abra ham and the widow's two mites, so receive' the thank offerings of Thy servants, rich and poor, hidden and known, those that would offer but have nought, and those that have offered to-day. Grant unto them things incorruptible for things corruptible. . . .

After further incensings the Creed is recited by the con gregation, in the plural ("'We believe," etc.), the priest

washes his hands and says the " Prayer of the Kiss" :

1' . . . . According to Thy good) will, 0 God, fill our

hearts with Thy peace. Purify us from all spot and cunning and hypocrisy and wickedness and from the

memory of wrongs, which bringeth death. Make us .all meet, 0 Lord, and salute one another with a holy kiss .....

But the kiss of peace is no longer given. The canon2 begins with the deacon's command:

"Offer in order. Stand with fear. Look towards the east. Let us attend. Mercy, peace and a sacrifice of praise."?

The verses, responses and preface are read, and celebrant and people sing together:



232 TIlE IRISH MONTHLY

" Cherubim and seraphim shout and cry aloud say ing: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hoists, heaven and earth are full of Thy sacred glory."

There follows a prayer which reviews the fall and redemption of man, paraphrasing from the Nicene creed the atoning work of our Lord. The words of institution are interrupted at every clanuse by the people chanting

Amen," and after each consecration they make an act

of faith, "Amen. Thus we believe it indeed to be. Amen." Then they break into, a shout of joy

" Amen. Amen. Amen. We show forth Thy death, O Lord, and we confess Thy resurrection and ascen sion. We praise Thee. We blesis Thee. We give Thee thanks, 0 Lord, and beseech Thee, 0 God."

Meanwhile the celebrant makes the commemoration of the passion, resurrection, ascension and second coming of our Lord, ending 4 We offer unto Thee these Thy gifts of Thy gifts of ati, and for all, and in all," and the

invocation of the Holy Ghost is made with outstretched hands and is addressed, not directly to the Third Person of the Trinity, but deprecatively to our Lord. The intercession for the living and the commemoration of the saints (many Egyptian ones are named, Anthony the

Abbot, Paul the Hermit,! the} Macaireis, Pachomius, Paphnutius) and of all the dead leads to an elevation of the Host and Chalice, the breaking of the Holy Bread and the Our Father sung by the people in Arabic. The priest then says three or four long prayers, for the inpouring of grace at Communion, forgiveness of sins, in which are rehearsed our Lord's promises to St. Peter in the words of Matt. xvi, 18-19, and for all people.

4 . . . . We pray and beseech Thy goodness, 0 Lover of men, that since, Thou hast sanctified us Thou wouldst join us to Thyself through the Communion of Thy holy mysteries that we may be filled with Thy sp?rit. Remember, 0 Lord, Thy servants, all

orthodox Christians throughout the world, from the rising up of thet sun to the going down thereof, from the north to the south, every one by his own name and every one by her own name . . . . watch over those



THE MASS IN THE EAST 233

who live by an angel of peace and to those who have

fallen asleep give rest. . . .'

Then the priest elevates the Sacred Host, sayiing in Greek, Holy things to the holy," dropis a, piece of It itto the chalice, and makes a, long act of faith in the B3lessed Sacrament, the incarnation, passion, and divinity of our Lord, holding the Host in his, hands the while; it begins thus: " Amen. Amen. Amen. I believe. I believe, I believe that this bread and this wine are the true Body and the true Blood of Christ, Who was born of the Blessed Virgin." While he makes hiis prepara, ti-on for Communion the people sing psalm 150, "' Praise the Lord in His holy places," with " Alleluia " after each clause.

After a, prayer like our P'ereeptio corporis tui. the celc brant receives the sacred Body, saying " This is indeed the Body of Emmanuel our God. Amen," and then the precious Blood. Catholic people now generally receive Holy Communion kneeling and under the form of bread only, but sometimes in both kinds with a spoon, as in the Byzantine rite. Otherwise Copts rarely kneel in church, but often prostrate themselves.

The ablhitions are performed just as in the Latin Mass; then the priest stands before the people with out stretched arms and sa.ys a long prayer over them, ending with Our Father, said with thei people but in silence. The final blessing is given with a hand-cross:

" The blessing of the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, rest with you always,. + Go in peace, and the peace of the Lord be with you."

Then blessed brea,d is sometimes distributed and the people sprinkled with holy water.

More than any other Christian Eucharistic Liturgy the Coptic categorically emphasises by repeated state

ments and acts of faith the real objective presence of the body and blood of Jesus Christ in the consecrated bread and wine; after that may be noticed the numerous passages from and references to the two testaments of the holy Scriptures and the direct references to the invocation of "' the Lady of us all, the Holy Mother of



234 THE IRISH MONTHLY

God, St. Mary," and the salints generally. But perhapsc more than by ainything else one is struck by the people's knowledge of their Liturgy and their participation therein, which is more active and close than in any other rite; notably at the consecration, celebrant and people literally "c hang on one another's words."

Copts have great devotion to the memory of their martyrs of the early ages, and indeed their ecclesiastical years are reckoned from A.D. 284, the Era of the

Martyrs under Diocletian. According to their calendar the day on which I revise these lines (Octr., 1932) is

Paopi 10, 1648, the feast of St. Sergius. A translation of the Liturgy as used by the dissident

Copts, which is1 very nearly the same as that of the Catholics, was made by the late Marquiis of Bute and

published in London in 1908. This is a very useful book, but not entirely correct in its details, even as regards the dissidents$.

Before leaving the Coptic rite, it is necessary to refer to the Ahyssinian, which is derived therefrom.

The Christians of Abyssin:ia or Ethiopia, were always dependent on the Church of Alexandria and in the sixth century followed it into the Monophysite heresy. During the nineteenth century a small number returned to Catholic u:nity, mostly embracing the Latin rite, but there are now some 30,000 who follow their own proper rite. These nearly all live in Erithrea, under a bishop of their own race and rite, and are ministered to by 76 native priests.

Their Liturgy is substantially that of the C*opts (but Catholic Abyssinians at pre-sent use only the anaph.ora or canon of St. Basil), translated into Gheez, that is, classical Ethiopic. Vestments, etc., are as among the Copts, the Eucharistic Bread is leavened, Communion is under both kinds. Pending the revision of theit liturgical books, all other services are taken from the

Roman books, translated into Gheez.

1 The ancient tongue of Egypt, in disuse for many centuries. 2 There are three alternative canons. This is " of St. Basil."

Copts haave no Liturgy of the Presanctified.



the mass in the east. iv: coptic

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